At the Pressing of the Button
by Jessa L'Rynn
Summary: They just appeared in the TARDIS, a golden haired little girl and an oddly familiar little boy. Now, Rose Tyler and the Doctor have two mysterious kids, Jackie Tyler, and who knows what else on their hands. Birthday gift for Tardisistheonlywaytotravel
1. Chapter 1

Happy Birthday to Tardisistheonlywaytotravel! In celebration of that event and for other gifts, great and small, I present...

* * *

**At the Pressing of the Button**

_Chapter 1_

Rose was just bringing the last of her new things in from her mum's flat, wondering idly what Mickey was doing now, and thinking that the Doctor had completely vanished, when every single light in the console room came on and, for want of a better term, kept coming. The entire room flashed briefly a blinding white and faded to a delicate, friendly sort of cream. The Time Rotor roared. Rose clutched absently for something, anything, to hold on to, and everything seemed to spin.

The cream color went away as quickly as it had come, the lights dimmed back to normal, and Rose blinked in the sudden dimness, trying to get her bearings. "Hello to you, too?" she told the TARDIS questioningly, not having any idea what had just happened.

"I didn't mean to, I swear I didn't."

Rose blinked again and turned toward the strange new voice that had just appeared. Staring back at her, wild-eyed and a bit pale, was a dark haired, blue-eyed boy of perhaps eleven or twelve, wearing ordinary jeans and a jumper. Next to him, dressed quite exotically Rose thought, was a positively tiny blonde girl, who had her thumb in her mouth. She was clinging to the back of the boy's jumper with one hand, and the arm that kept her thumb in her mouth also cuddled a small, battered, stuffed something.

The boy opened his mouth again and started babbling at her. "I didn't. It's just it was a button - a big red threatening button..."

"That must never, ever be pressed," Rose cut him off.

"Right, an' it's all Dad's fault, 'cuz he said I can't press it, an' he was wrong, obviously, but I didn't mean to press it, I didn't. It was an accident."

A new voice, tiny, piping, and just barely comprehensible cut the boy off this time. "You tell. I sayed not press the button." Then, she walked over to Rose, and just as sweetly as you please, held up her arms. "I show you."

"You'll show me what button he pressed?" Rose asked, just for clarification. She bent to pick the little girl up, almost without thinking about it, and settled the child on her hip.

The girl juggled her stuffed whatsits to her other arm and settled her head on Rose's shoulder as if this was completely normal, before she said, "Yeah." Then, she stuck her thumb back into her mouth.

"Yes, ma'am," the boy corrected. He gave Rose an exasperated glare. "I told you she'd been spending too much time with Uncle Tony, but you never listen to me, none of you."

Twelve, Rose decided. "Uncle Tony?" she wondered.

The boy looked at her, his face puzzled but utterly familiar. Then, suddenly, his blue eyes widened and he said something that the TARDIS didn't translate, but didn't like, either, because the console beeped loudly and the usual hum went distinctly annoyed in pitch.

"Sorry," the child said, laying a hand on the console, just like the Doctor always did. "But I really messed up this time, didn't I?"

The TARDIS gave a decidedly affirmative hum.

The boy said several more untranslated things and Rose put her free hand over the younger child's ear. "I don't even know your name, kid," she said, "but you need to stop that, especially in front of... your sister?"

The boy stared at her again. "I can see it!" he exclaimed, blue eyes bright with joy. "Hah! Wait'll I tell Dad! If I know what I'm looking for, I can actually see it! Fantastic!"

Rose suddenly knew who he reminded her of. "What's your name?" she asked. "You obviously know mine."

"Yeah." He grinned, and the grin was a completely perfect duplicate of... her heart clenched in her chest. "Sorry," he said. "I mean, yes ma'am. I'm Jack."

Rose nodded. "And your sister?"

He thought about it, as if he couldn't remember what he was supposed to say. Rose shook her head and chuckled lightly. "I'll just call her Belle," Rose said. "Since she's so pretty."

The little girl pulled her thumb out of her mouth to beam at Rose. "Love you," she said, sweetly.

Rose felt something inside her heart try to tie itself in knots. She swallowed hard. "I'm gonna put you down now, Belle, and fetch us some help. You stay right here, ok? And Jack - if you touch anything else, I'm asking the TARDIS to zap you before you make things worse."

He nodded quite contritely. Just before Rose pushed open the doors, she could have sworn she heard him say, "Sorry, mum."

Nah. Impossible.

* * *

"Mum, is the Doctor out here?" Rose called.

"No, I'm not," the Doctor called back. "I ran away from home, changed my name to David Tennant, and became an actor in a Harry Potter movie."

Rose shook her head, laughing in fond exasperation. She shouldn't be laughing, really, because it looked like they were about to have a really weird conversation. She went through to the kitchen quickly, because there was liable to be trouble in the TARDIS if she didn't make this fast. "Doctor," she said, firmly, "is there something you need to tell me about? Maybe something you got up to last body that I don't know?"

"I met you and you asked me to marry you," he said, warily. "In your defense, you were only four. Does that help?"

Rose stared at him, decided he was completely mad, as usual, and reached over to pull his hand out of the marmalade bottle. "Put the lid on that," she said. "There's something in the TARDIS that you need to see."

Another voice, the worst possible voice to hear at a time like this, rang out across the living room. "Rose, what are you on about? Are you in..."

"Mum, don't!" Rose shouted, too late.

Jackie Tyler let out a piercing scream and, from the sound of things, toppled to the floor.

* * *

"Her looks funny," was the first thing Rose heard as she charged into the living room, where the TARDIS still sat after their horrible misadventure in the parallel world.

"She's younger, S... Belle," said the boy's voice. "I told you, and you need to be quiet."

"I be a _Jingle_ Belle," the little girl said very firmly.

The boy chuckled and answered, "Fine. Then together we'll be Jingle Bell Rock. Now, shush, they're bound to be coming back."

Rose knew the boy's real name now, but didn't know why her knowing it or not was an issue.

"I want my mummy."

"I know you do, sweetheart," he said. "I'm sorry."

"You fix it?"

"The Doctor will fix it. He's here. He's never far from the TARDIS."

The Doctor was looking at Rose with huge, horrified eyes. "What did you do?" he mouthed at her.

"What did _I _do?!" she mouthed back fiercely. She couldn't wait 'til he got a look at the boy.

Jackie groaned. Rose charged over so she could get between her mother and the kids. "Rose," she said, as soon as her eyes popped open. "I had the weirdest dream. You were hiding alien grandchildren in that ship of yours."

Jack started to laugh. "She never changes," he muttered to his sister.

"Like that one," Jackie added, and looked like she was to pass out again.

"Mum, they just appeared. I know what it looks like, who_ he_ looks like, but I swear to you, I had nothing to do with it."

The boy fell over laughing this time.

Rose shot him a black look, but he seemed to be either immune to them due to his age or so used to it that it bounced right off of him. He looked at Jackie and grinned rather fetchingly. "I'm Jack," he said, "and I'm impossible. This is Belle, and she's adorable."

Jackie glanced at the little girl briefly. "He's got it right, there." Then, she studied Jack, her eyes getting wider by the second. "My God, Rose, he's the very spitting image. Except for the ears."

"Oi," protested Jack, "what's wrong with my ears?"

"Nothing," Jackie began, "that's my..."

"If I live to be a thousand, I will never understand you," the boy talked right over her. "In fact, if _you_ live to be a thousand, I'll still never understand you. Not even..."

The Doctor appeared at last, staring at the children with his own juvenile fascination. They stared back at him, both of them twitching a little under the intensity of his gaze. He opened his mouth the speak, several times, but nothing came out, resulting in a look that Rose was quite familiar with (which, in the privacy of her head, she referred to as the startled guppy look). He tried a smile. It didn't seem to want to stay, so he tried a frown. That didn't work either, apparently. Confusion was never something he was good at, so he whipped out the brainy specs and tried to appear all scientific and interested as he blinked at the children through the useless lenses.

Belle clapped and giggled at the appearance of the spectacles, which seemed to shock the Doctor into realizing the two newcomers were actually real. He dropped to his knees, so that he was eye-level with Jack, and stared into the boy's face. Then, he said something, something alien and musical and completely beautiful.

Rose gasped in wonder, felt tears start in her eyes at the strangely inquiring sound. Jack nodded, and then said something back, in the same language, while Belle pointed at Jack and said something different, but still alien and exotic.

The Doctor vaulted to his feet, his head whipping around every which away, like it did when he was trying to do six or eight things at once. He jerked his hands through his hair, looked back at Jack, looked at Rose with his eyes so huge they might start away from his face at any second. By this time, he was completely ruffled, and he let his hand go to the back of his neck, where he scratched at it while staring at Rose. He shuffled his feet, seemed to shrink in on himself, became completely insecure. "Just checking," he muttered, and bolted for the kitchen.

"Well, looks like someone stole the Doctor's nerve today," Jackie grumbled.

"I still want my mummy," Belle said, and she sounded rather annoyed.

Rose didn't know what to do, not really, but Jackie was on the case immediately. "I'm Rose's mummy," she said gently. "Will I do?"

Belle blinked at Jackie through gigantic brown eyes. "K," she said, and held up her arms. Jackie hoisted the baby onto her hip and held her close, running a gentle hand through the soft, golden curls.

Jack let out an explosive breath, walked up to Rose, and hugged her around the waist. "That was too weird, Jingle Belle. I want my mummy, too."

Rose petted the boy's hair, not sure what else to do. Jack's hair was thick, like the Doctor's, but insisted on falling flat again immediately after being touselled. "I'm sorry he upset you two."

"Not upset," Jack denied. "Just... this isn't good. We kinda... no, I definitely, I s'pose, broke the Laws of Time, somehow, an' I can't begin to tell you how much trouble I'm gonna be in when I get home." Jack shook his head, released Rose, jerked his hands through his hair just like the Doctor always did. "He's gonna want you in a second."

Rose shook her head. "I don't think so," she denied. More than likely, the Doctor would be busily looking up facts and figures in his head. He wouldn't have even a moment to think on her, anymore, that was certain, might not even need her ever again. She doubted he would care what she did, not now, not knowing these two children existed.

Rose knew one thing for sure, though. If Jack's face hadn't given him away, if his attitude and manic grin and attempted enigmatic behavior hadn't done it, if even the quick exchange in what she knew for certain was Gallifreyan hadn't assured her, she knew one utterly indisputable fact. Both children had two hearts.

"Ten seconds," Jack said, a slow grin starting on his wistfully familiar face.

Rose shook her head, couldn't resist grinning back.

"Six seconds. Five. Four, three..."

"ROSE!!"

Rose blinked down at Jack in shock. He shrugged. "I'm off a bit, I s'pose," he said.

She bent down, hugged the child, and kissed the top of his head. Then, she turned and went to give the Doctor a piece of her mind.


	2. Chapter 2

Happy Birthday to Tardisistheonlywaytotravel! In celebration of that event and for other gifts, great and small, I present...

* * *

**At the Pressing of the Button**

_Chapter 2_

"You need to help them," she snapped. "They're just little kids."

"I'm sorry," the Doctor replied distractedly.

"Don't tell me that, tell them."

"They understood me," he said, shaking his head, looking out the window for something, apparently, that he was expecting to see.

"I know that, but they're still just little, little kids!!

He turned to her and bounced energetically on his toes. "They're Time Tots," he said. "Baby Time Lords. The boy... what'd you call him? He's got the Rassilon Imprinitur and everything. A baby Time Lord! I can't think... can't imagine... where did he come from?"

"His name is supposedly Jack. Did you look at him?" Rose demanded.

"Blue eyes, black hair," the Doctor agreed frantically. "You know, I'm sure I've seen him before."

"Ever look in a mirror?"

"What? No, no, no, not a mirror, he looks nothing like a mirror, don't be ridiculous. I'm sure I've seen him somewhere, though."

"Last you?" she offered, trying to prod a couple of those fabled bits of genius back into working condition.

"No... wait..." He frowned at her, tugged at his ear. "Bicycle?"

"Red bicycle when I was twelve?" she suggested, since he was making even less sense than usual. Mind, she had no idea what was less than no sense at all.

The Doctor waved her off and looked back out the window. "No, that's not it."

"What are you doing?" Rose demanded.

"Making sure there aren't Reapers."

Rose hip-checked the Doctor out of the way, climbed up on the counter, and stared out the window herself, shaking. "I don't see anything," she said, after a few minutes of checking around desperately.

"I do," he murmured, and Rose could have sworn she felt his hand on her bum. She yelped and her head whipped around to try to catch him in the act. Didn't know what she'd do if she did but... ouch.

She nearly fell off the counter, but the Doctor caught her and dragged her clear, holding her tightly to him, his eyes ablaze with joy and wonder. He looked like he was going to kiss her. She was almost certain. His eyes went darker, narrowed. Rose stared at him, licked her lip. His eyes darted down to it, then right back to hers. Nothing happened. Nothing moved.

"Wh-what?" she whispered.

"Your skirt," he murmured.

She wore one so rarely, she'd forgotten she'd put it on this morning so she could wash all her jeans before they left. "Oh," she breathed.

"I saw your knickers."

Normally, this sort of revelation would have been made incredulously, and would probably have been followed by a giddy history of the evolution of female underclothes, which diverted to the planets they were worn on, then the planets they were not, then the history of one planet that only wore them on special occasions or something, until it all got so muddled they both forgot how it had started in the first place. Not that this had happened before, not that she was aware of, anyway, but if it had, that was the way the Doctor usually handled things. This time, however, it came out in a low, husky growl, and was only followed by more staring and more darting of his eyes to her lips and back again.

"You're staring," Rose murmured.

"I am," the Doctor agreed.

Rose was about to break and either bolt and run or possibly, just possibly, drag her fingers through his completely wild hair, tug his head down, and finally, finally, seal this bizarre relationship with her kiss. The Doctor gave every indication of being about to beat her to it.

The sound of laughter from the other room completely dashed that idea.

* * *

"An' this is Rose when she was four."

"Was it her birthday?" Jack asked. "You took a lot of pictures."

"No..." Jackie frowned thoughtfully, then smiled as she apparently remembered. "She had a bit of an adventure that day was all." Rose tilted her head, curious. "We got separated. A very nice soldier brought her home - I was happy to have her back, even if she didn't invite her new fiance to tea." Jackie looked up at Rose and grinned wickedly while the kids both started laughing again and pointing at Rose.

The Doctor, who Rose was staring at now, ambled over and leaned on the back of the sofa, looking over Jack's head at the photo album Rose's mum had apparently opened in his lap. "I remember this," he said, completely delighted with his own brilliance.

Rose and Jackie both gaped at him. "What?" he said.

Jackie jumped up and started whacking him with a sofa cushion. "How long have you been stalking my daughter, you great alien pervert?" she shrieked. It was times like this that Rose knew exactly why her first Doctor had routinely referred to Jackie as "that harpy."

The Doctor eventually gave up on his protests of, "It wasn't like that!" and fled into the TARDIS, locking the door behind him before Jackie could follow. Huffing with annoyance, she turned to Rose. "Finish showing them the pictures," she said grumpily. "I'm gonna make tea, an' if himself decides to show his face, you tell 'im I still owe 'im a slap!"

"She doesn't understand yet," Jack observed.

"You honestly think she ever will? I'm sure she thinks we have a flat in Glasgow and just pretend to time travel."

Jack smiled his father's best mysterious smile and turned the page. Belle squealed with delight. "ME!!" she shouted, pointing at a particular picture.

Rose looked at Belle, looked at the picture, shook her head. The resemblance was so perfect that her hands started to tremble. It was impossible, utterly impossible. "No, Belle, sweetheart, that's me, on Halloween, when I was four. Had my hair all done up in curls like yours. I think Mum was usin' my hair for advertising."

Jack grinned, a full on manic, child's version of a grin that used to break Rose's heart to miss. "Now that," he said, "that is interesting."

"Textbook enigmatic," the Doctor called from the TARDIS doorway.

"Learned from the best," Jack replied smugly.

Good god, but the not knowing was gonna kill her.

* * *

After they'd finished looking at the pictures and Jackie had been appeased with tea, after the Doctor had assured her - from shouting range, not slapping range - that he hadn't even known he'd be running into Rose until he actually did so, they finally bustled the children back into the TARDIS to sort this whole thing out.

"I know I've seen you somewhere before," was the first proper thing the Doctor said to Jack, face to face.

Jack stared at him, utterly incredulous. Rose rolled her eyes and silently asked the TARDIS to call up just the hologram from Emergency Program One and stand it right beside Jack. The ship obligingly complied, but the Doctor only noticed it after about a seven minute ramble on the subject of tricky memory and wibbly wobbly things. The Time Lord stared at the picture of his past, looked down at Jack, and finally nodded. "Yeah, then," he said, and waved a hand through the hologram. It shot a piercing, blue-eyed stare at Rose, and vanished.

Rose stood there shaking and tried to tell herself that it didn't hurt, seeing him as he'd been then, because he was with her now, still. She tried so very hard. Jack, however, noticed her discomfiture and came over to hug her. Rose wrapped her arms around the boy and wished for just the briefest of moments that it was possible he was hers.

She was starting, she thought, to understand in her tiny way why the Doctor didn't want to get attached to people. She could easily love this child, but he had to go home, to his father's correct time-line and whoever his mother really was. She was dying inside to just ask him, but was afraid of the answer, and utterly unwilling to place on the child any more of his father's burden than he'd already inherited.

"I know," Jack whispered. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Rose knelt down in front of him. "No, don't you dare," she said. "Don't be sorry, Jack. I knew what I was doing when I signed on with your father. And even if he's being deliberately obtuse, I know he's completely ecstatic just knowing you exist. Or, I suppose, from his point of view, will exist."

"I really am impossible at the moment," Jack said softly. "And I really need to get back soon. And Belle, too, of course. She's so little, and I'm s'posed to be looking after her."

"How old are you?" Rose asked, utterly incredulous. She decided to blame the theoretical mother and some alien invaders, before she realized what she was doing - refusing to consider the slimmest possibility that the Doctor might be guilty of anything, even making one of his kids babysit - and sighed.

"Older than you are, I think," Jack said. "I mean, in my own time line. I'm... well, you know." He jerked his head at the Doctor.

"Oi, you two, what're you whispering about over there?" The Doctor strode over, looking stern. "You'll be bad influences on each other, I'm sure of it. Jack, come over here and show me what you did, so we can fix it."

Jack nodded ruefully. "Sorry, sir," he told the Doctor politely.

"Don't call me sir," the Doctor protested.

Jack grinned at the older Time Lord, and Rose was starting to wonder if the Doctor was wearing an invisible blind fold or something, especially when he suddenly said, "I'm absolutely certain I've seen you somewhere before."

She rolled her eyes. "Now I know what your problem was, last body."

"What's that s'posed to mean?" the Doctor demanded.

She couldn't explain how she was thinking that if he didn't recognize the juvenile near-duplicate, he must've never looked in a mirror except that one time, which went on to explain a lot of other things about their relationship back then. She didn't even want to attempt to discuss it, in fact. "Never mind," she said. "Let's take the kids home."

Rose looked around diligently for little Belle, who had been so quiet, she'd practically forgotten the child was around. When she found the little one sound asleep in the jump seat, Rose felt her heart clench and try to turn over. She pointed the sleeping baby out to the Doctor with a shushing gesture.

He smiled and reached over to stroke the baby curls out of the pretty little face, then gently tugged Belle's thumb from her mouth. Rose's heart decided to curl up into a very small ball and weep.

Rose tried to shake it off. She didn't even like kids, as she reminded herself firmly for the umpteenth time today. So why was this happening to her?


	3. Chapter 3

**At the Pressing of the Button**

_Chapter 3_

"Right. Everyone ready, now?" the Doctor asked. "Awake over there, Jingle Belle?"

"Yes, sir," Belle said drowsily. The Doctor had reluctantly woken her from her nap, and she was gloomy and fussy and sleepy all at once. Rose hadn't found anything the slightest bit off about that sort of behavior, which the Doctor had said just went to show you, and Jack had, once again, passed as "interesting."

Belle was now sitting in Rose's lap in the jump seat, her stuffed whatsits clutched close. Rose had Belle tucked under her chin and kept smiling down into the golden curls. The Doctor caught Rose's eye and Rose firmly told herself that he didn't look any more wistful than she did.

"We're good," Rose said.

"I know," the Doctor answered. "Jack, which button?"

Jack sighed. "I can't reach it," he confessed.

The Doctor shook his head. "So, you found a button that you had to get past the TARDIS defenses to even reach, and you decided to push it anyway? You remind me of your namesake, anyway."

Jack's eyes went wide. "Seriously?" he exclaimed. "Thank you!" The boy hugged the Doctor fiercely around the waist.

To Rose's amazement, her highly physical, always-wanted-to-be-touching Doctor didn't so much as lay a hand on Jack's head. He said something instead, something harmonic and resonant, in their alien language.

Jack peered up into the Doctor's dark eyes, rolled his own blue ones, and replied in the same language. The Doctor's eyes went wide and glowing, vibrant. Next thing Rose knew, the Doctor had Jack in his arms, holding the impossible child in an ecstatic hug while laughter like music tumbled from the pair of them. She dashed away tears with a shaky hand while Belle giggled in her lap.

"They silly," Belle said. "They _always_ silly."

Rose found herself laughing, too, helplessly amused by the indignant little girl. "Fathers and sons," she said softly. "Sometimes they have to be silly together, just to admit what they can't say."

"Oh," Belle exclaimed with wonder. Conspiratorially, she added, "Boys are silly."

Rose nodded. "And Time Lords are the silliest boys of all," she explained.

"Oi!" Jack and the Doctor both yelped protest.

"You just told Junior off for pressing buttons," Rose said. "That's practically the first thing you did with that body..."

The Doctor gave her that sloppy grin that usually made her want to snog him as goofy as he looked. "Aside from flirting with you in front of the aliens," he agreed.

"Well, there was that," Rose murmured, and tried to convince herself she wasn't blushing as the kids laughed at her.

"All right, Jacky boy, show me the button."

Jack, still held securely in the Doctor's surprisingly strong arms, reached over to the console. "One of these," he said thoughtfully. "Um... this one."

The Doctor tugged on the brainy specs with one hand after conjuring them from somewhere, and peered at the console. "Which one?" he asked.

"This one," Jack repeated, somewhat indignantly.

Something happened, too fast for the human eye to catch. The TARDIS jerked and the Time Rotor roared into motion. Rose tightened her hold on Belle, determined to keep the baby safe, whatever happened. The Doctor darted over, shoved Jack at her as well, then pounced on the controls. Rose grabbed Jack's arm and jerked him up on the seat beside her. "Stay close," she ordered over the rising din.

The Cloister Bell sounded, and the Doctor shouted, "Where are we going?"

"I don't know!" Rose answered him, on general principle. "Doctor?"

"Jumping time tracks, Rose," he shouted apologetically. "Hold on!" He jumped on another bank of controls, brought his mallet down, all too enthusiastically, a little too close to what he called the temporal parameter settings for Rose's comfort. The Cloister Bell silenced, but the Time Rotor jerked, and the Doctor lost his grip on the console. He tumbled into one of the coral struts, flung himself back to the console, slammed his hand down on the materialization switch, and bounced again. He stumbled, and Rose relaxed her grip on Belle just long enough to snatch the Doctor's hand in an attempt to stabilize him again.

Everything shook. Rose closed her eyes, held onto the kids, and hoped desperately as the whine of materialization cut in with a particularly painful grating shriek. The world turned to roller coaster physics and noise.

There was a tremendous dull thud, a clicking machine growl, then silence.

"Ouch," the Doctor complained.

Rose had to suppose he'd earned the right on that one, considering he'd managed, possibly on purpose, to end up at the bottom of a well-jostled pile-up of him, Jack, Belle, and Rose, not necessarily in that order. She didn't move, just checked Belle over carefully and, once she'd satisfied herself that the little girl wasn't bleeding or injured, pushed her to her feet. Moving on to Jack, Rose found he'd already struggled out of the mix and was dusting himself down.

The boy grinned at her, winked, and then shouted, "Fantastic!" before whooping off to bounce around the console room. If Jack's accent had been Northern instead of that vague Londonish, Rose thought even the Doctor wouldn't have been able to ignore the resemblance at this point. He sounded just exactly like the last Doctor.

She was about to point this out when she was shifted suddenly by large hands planted firmly on her hips. "Comfy?" the Doctor asked, in a voice Rose hardly recognized.

"Um... dunno. Are you all right?"

He grinned. "Never better," he replied flippantly. "Well, I say never, but..."

"Doctor, whatever it is going on in that head of yours, we have an underage audience, yeah?"

"Rose Tyler, what a thing to suggest." The Doctor tried to sound all offended, but she was awfully close to him, close enough to count every freckle on his nose, so there was no question whatever about the sparkle in his eyes or the small wink he suddenly gave her. "Up you go," he added, and the next thing Rose knew, she was on her feet, the Doctor's arm securely about her waist.

"When I said 'Which button', Jack, I did not mean 'Press the button.'" The Doctor released Rose and walked over to the kids. He had to rescue the boy from Belle by picking her up. "Now, now, little miss, there'll be no violence in this TARDIS, if you please."

"Him's a pain!" Belle proclaimed fiercely and brandished a tiny fist, clutching her stuffed whatsits, in Jack's general direction.

"Love me, anyway, Jingle Belle," Jack teased.

"Bad!" Belle exclaimed.

Jack shook his head and wandered over to Rose. "She gets so mad, sometimes. We've got _no_ idea _where_ she gets it from, honestly."

Rose smiled. "Stay over here, I'll protect you."

"Where are we anyway?" the Doctor demanded, flipping open the view screen. He blinked at it. "This... makes no sense."

"Why, what happened?"

"We've only moved out onto the street," the Doctor said. "Now, why would we have to jump time tracks for that? Jack, your parents weren't... on the Estate when you left, were they?"

"No," the boy answered, looking completely confused. "We were on... should I tell you?"

"Possibly... no, hang on a minute, look at this. Rose... are you missing again?"

She patted herself down, unable to help herself realizing the Doctor was watching her every move. "I seem to be right here," she said, unable to stop staring back at him.

He nodded slowly, then blinked suddenly and turned his head to look back at the viewer. "Yeah, thought so." He tapped a control, zoomed in on a nearby wall. "That's your flyer from... well, from when... well, when the TARDIS missed that year."

The TARDIS beeped in protest and the Doctor muttered, "Did too," at the console.

A large gang of people meandered by the wall, chattering, cheering, and proclaiming tonight the night for a party.

"Lovely," the Doctor muttered. "Nobody ever threw me a party. Shoulda tried ruining a national landmark and crashing into the Thames, then maybe..."

"You did a pretty spectacular crash on Christmas, an' Mum sorta threw a party."

"Wasn't for me," he grumbled. "Still, that's when we are, the day the pig alien crashed. These people don't even know it yet, but they're about to have a good reason for their party. But what are we doing here?"

He glared at the screen and Rose peered over his shoulder briefly. One of the group propped a blue bicycle up against the wall, directly beneath Rose's missing poster, which had the ubiquitous "Bad Wolf" logo scrawled across it.

"I've always wanted to see this," Jack whispered. "Heard about it all my life but, you know. I just wish I could meet him, too, the way he was."

"He was grumpy half the time, and manic and beautiful," Rose murmured, then shook herself. "Sorry, shouldn't've said that."

"No, s'okay," Jack told her. "Glad to hear it, really." He winked at her.

"Oi, you two, whispering again?" the Doctor complained. "Next thing I know you'll be plotting underaged drinking and out graffiting monuments or something."

Rose stared at the poster still showing on the screen, stared at Jack, and something went click. She grinned.

* * *

"You'll get to meet him, but I'm not sure it'll be much fun," Rose apologized. "Are you sure you want to do?"

The boy shook the canister of white spray paint Rose had found for him and smirked at her. "To get to be a part of this one? Oh, you've got no idea..."

"What are you two up to?" the Doctor demanded quietly from Rose's doorway. He had a sleeping Belle cuddled into his shoulder and seemed to be searching for a place to put her down.

"Lay her down here, Doctor," Rose said. "Then we'll explain."

He nodded. "Poor little thing, we've completely tired her out today."

"I sorta interrupted her nap time," Jack apologized. "She's only three. She got up to follow me and, well, you saw."

The Doctor gently disentangled Belle from his shoulder, and laid her down on the bed. His hand went to her brow and he smiled a wistful, far away sort of smile. Rose thought he looked very sad, which was only confirmed by the faint sheen of tears standing in his eyes when he looked away. He tried not to show it, grinned brilliantly at her. Rose's heart tried to break again, but there wasn't time for that now.

Still, if she'd known he wanted kids, she might've...

Impossible.

Rose gestured the Doctor and Jack out of the room, while the TARDIS conjured up a padded side rail for Rose's bed, then led them back to the console room. "Doctor, I figured it out: you're right. You have seen Jack before. I mean, besides in any way that is not making sense to you even though it should."

"O... K." The Doctor gave her his best "Rose Tyler just fell in from outer space" look, the one that always said she was making less sense than even the "you dribbled on your shirt there, Rose," look.

Rose went on to explain exactly what had happened. Throughout the whole explanation, the Doctor stared, baffled, at the pair of them. When she finally finished, he had only one thing to say: "Blimey."

Still, he couldn't argue with her assessment, since it was completely accurate. "Well," he decided. "Just..." He looked down at Jack. "You know how to cover it, I suppose?"

"First thing I learned," Jack said. "Well, I say first, but of course..." he went off on a rapid fire ramble that had Rose giggling, even while the Doctor nodded periodically and mostly just watched the boy, wild eyed and a bit alarmed.

In the end, they sent Jack, the borrowed bike, and the can of paint off on his mission. "Blimey," the Doctor exclaimed. "He sounds just like me." The Time Lord shook his head. "I wonder how that happened."

Rose decided that even a blow to the head wasn't going to sort the Doctor out any time soon.

* * *

When Jack got back, he was shocked and laughing at the same time. "He's the Storm. He really is. It's like... every one of you sort of is one of your titles, and he's the Oncoming Storm."

The Doctor frowned, then grudgingly nodded. "Guess so," he agreed at last, but with obvious reluctance. "Ready to deal with him directly?"

"Can be. Why?"

The Doctor hastily set some coordinates. "Because somebody's got to get the paint off. Ride by. He'll catch you." He set the Time Rotor going and, as it wasn't even a big hop, the TARDIS merely wobbled a bit before settling straight back down. "What, you didn't think I was going to let you leave the TARDIS graffitied, did you? Off you go, get her cleaned up."

While they waited, the Doctor paced nervously, muttering to himself. He managed to distract himself halfway through the evening with Belle, who had woken from her nap and was now hungry and angry.

When Jack came back, alternately grinning, complaining about working too hard, and joking about the Doctor's ears, they had a quick supper together, the four of them, and then, the adventure was finally over. No one seemed to have been ready for that, for all that the kids were obviously ready to go home.

The Doctor picked the correct time and place out of Jack's head, then set them down on some planet Rose could not remember the Doctor ever mentioning. "You'd better handle this," the Doctor said. "Just... Rose, remember what I said the last time there were two of you in the same place. Just in case." She nodded and took a hand of each child.

The Doctor stopped her only long enough to sketch Jack a strange, formal looking little bow. Both children replied in kind, then let Rose go long enough to fling themselves into the Time Lord's embrace, hugging him tightly.

"Remember," Jack said. "Just... when it's worst. Remember."

"I'll try," the Doctor promised softly. "I'll see you both, soon."

"Yes sir," the children agreed in unison.

"Love you," Belle added for good measure, which made he Doctor hug her one more time.

He turned away from them as Rose led them outside. He refused to even look. Rose couldn't blame him in the slightest.


	4. Epilogue

**At the Pressing of the Button**

_Epilogue_

The TARDIS, identical to the one they'd just left behind, sat proud and solitary on the next hillock. A man was leaning against the doors, looking annoyed and familiar. Rose grinned at him, as amazed as she was delighted. Both children scrambled away from her and into a quick embrace with the man, but whatever he might have said to them was lost in their childish cacophony.

Rose did hear him tell them to tell her goodbye, and she did, firmly and determinedly brushing tears out of her dripping eyes. Then, the doors opened and the two were gone. The man at the doors smiled at her. "You doing all right?" he asked.

She nodded, shook her head, laughed, and felt like crying all at once. "I guess so," she said.

He held his arms open for her and she flew into them. "I've missed you so much, Jack," she said, a bittersweet melancholy vying for a place with the absolute joy of seeing him again.

He started, then pulled away from her and smiled down into her eyes. "Not half so much as I've missed you, Rosie. But you'd better get back to your time line, and I need to get back to mine before they find another button to press. Don't mention me to him, though."

"Why?" Rose wondered.

"Time lines," Jack said, grinning knowingly and irreverently at her.

"The Doctor's kids are beautiful," she told him. "I'm glad he's got them."

"So am I," Jack said with absolute honesty. His green eyes were sparkling and over-bright and so familiar and beloved that Rose hardly knew what to say next. He put a gentle finger over her lips. "Go on now, precious girl," he said gently.

Rose nodded. "I love you," she told him.

He grinned and tapped her nose, straightening his great coat from where it had been twisted by her hands clutching at it convulsively. "I love you, Rose Tyler. Don't ever forget that."

"Good bye for now," she added. "Take care of him. Of them."

Jack nodded. "See you as soon as I can, love." He kissed her on her forehead, then turned and went back into the TARDIS he had apparently finally returned to.

Rose sighed. This had really been the day for strange revelations.

Then she went back to her TARDIS, her life, and her Doctor.

* * *

"Rose Tyler," the Doctor said indignantly, as soon as she shoved open the door. "When you said you scattered the words, this is not what I expected it to mean."

Rose chuckled, then walked into his embrace, whether he liked it or not. He wasn't likely to ask questions, but she wouldn't be tempted to answer them unasked if she kept herself distracted. "Doctor, I promise not to do it again."

He laughed and only hugged her tighter. "You might. I dunno."

She smirked against his chest. "The very next time I decide to put Bad Wolf logos on the TARDIS," she promised, "it will be the end of the world."

Apparently content with this, the Doctor buried his face in her hair. "Where to, Rose Tyler?" he asked after awhile.

"Dunno," she decided, but memory burned blue and bright. "Into time and space, right?"

The Doctor grinned and moved to the console, her hand held securely in his as it always should be. Contentedly, he pulled her closer. "That... that's fantastic.


End file.
